What would happen after a world wide EMP event?

What I am talking about here is most likely a solar emission that, upon impact with the Earth’s atmosphere causes a reaction resulting in the short-circuiting of all electronic components, the world over.

Given this event does this immediately, what would the outcome, regarding the reaction over time by mankind, likely end up as? By doing some thinking myself over such a scenario I can say that there will be massive famines, viral out-brakes or all kinds, as well as the predictable warfare, at least in the immediate aftermath.
Please post your opinions as I am looking for some additional ideas and opinion.

(Link to my hypothesis; note that it is rough, and un-edited)

Your thread reminds me of that movie (I can not remember the name of it) where that guy does (at the near end of the movie) push 666 on the remote box.

First thing to happen would be the price of abacus' going thru the roof!
I think this scenario was the basis for Dark Angel no? I honestly reckon this would be the funnest Sit X scenario to survive. Just having no mobile phone would make my quality of life better immediately. Sorry for not being too helpful but we had to get the blatantly obvious stuff out of the way asap

My first thoughts are you'd have many millions wondering why everything was off. It would take time for news of the cause to be spread.

People would be scared especially depending on the time of year. In winter, in the Northern Hemisphere, hundreds of millions could die from weather related causes, not mentioning the social breakdown. And, YES, there would be social breakdowns.

Not everything would be affected as there has been some shielding of critical systems within utilities, mass media communication stations, and governmental facilities. This doesn't mean that you have a radio or TV that can pick up the broadcasting they do, because your equipment wasn't protected. A few people will have working equipment only because they had planned to something like this.

Some parts of the USA would be back to normal in a few months, other parts may take a year or so. Replacing transformers and switchgear isn't that hard once you have it.

Other parts of the world would have different reactions from little change to major disasters.

There would be a growth industry in replacement electronics of everything.

All in all, it would be a bad day with worse days following for the first couple of weeks or so. Then it would start getting better.

reply to post by gordonwest


i believe that movie is escape from LA

EMP strike of any kind, whether caused by the sun or a weapon/device, would cause ASAP martial law in the USA. Local police, national guard, then army troops would crack down on any social unrest. But for the first few hours there would be total confusion, I think.

What would you do? Presuming you are home, get your home defenses at the ready, but don't go out. Figure out your eating priorities for consuming what's in your fridge before it goes bad.

Above all, you would need to remain calm. If you are in any way prepared for TEOTWAWKI, just calmly go over your checklist and stay busy. At some point, you would need to visit with your friendly neighbors and hope that y'all get some news sometime, somehow, about what happened. Those who already understand the effects of EMP can help calm down neighbors who won't have a clue.

Worst case scenario... widespread panic and an out-of-control situation. So, as I said, keep your sidearm handy or whatever you have for personal defense and home defense. Hopefully, you won't ever need to actually use it. However, folk in full on panic mode can be highly dangerous, I would imagine.

apart from the obvious, anything related to the silican chip would not work, Planes fall from sky ect. As anyone ever thought what the effect would have on ourselves i.e. our brains.

Sure there will be a large outbreak of violence, after an undetermined period of time. However this will subside rather quickly, and not because of military intervention because it is everyone that is affected by this, including the military personnel will need food too, and the stocks they have will most likely be raided after those in the supermarkets have run out.

On the subject of food, just as some food for thought: the only foods that will be viable after any preserving machines (refrigerators/freezers, de-humidifiers etc.) have been disabled, dairy foods, meats and fresh vegetables and some fruits will become un-edible. Canned goods, freeze dried foods and the long lasting fruits will remain, although they make up a fraction of the total food stock in your local super market. So when the hoards of confused and desperate peoples swarm in to grab what they can there won’t be much on the menu, and most likely there will be some quarrels over what is available. After a day, maybe two if you’re lucky, it will be gone. Apart from any home grown produce there will be nothing left for the millions of stranded people in the cities and no intervention of any kind can help them.

It is a sad prospect but one that can quite possibly happen. Think of a mass extinction of billions due to disease, famine and warfare.

Sure there will be a large outbreak of violence, after an undetermined period of time. However this will subside rather quickly, and not because of military intervention

Possible but more likely because groups of military veterans would start shooting any criminal and rioters and restore order.

To see what would happen just look at the old west in the US. after the American Civil war.

It was at Northfield, Minnesota in 1876 that a robbery at the First National Bank went sour with three of the James Gang dying in an onslaught of gun fire. The bullets came from all sides every James Gang member was being wounded

They ran into a town full of civil war veterans with rifles and shotguns.

It would take weeks for communication to be restored till then it would be up to the people in communities to maintain order and the best trained people would be military vets.

I have given EMP a good deal of thought and research, and it is definitely one of the more difficult scenarios to imagine or to model.

One of the big reasons it that we really don't know what a large EMP strike would damage and what would come through OK.

Some people really believe that all electrical equipment would be destroyed, while others think that pre-transistor equipment such as tube-based radios and cars without electronic ignitions would be fine (of course, computerized gas pumps would not run but, that's another topic).

I think you'd have to assume that not ALL electronics would be destroyed. Some shielded communications infrastructure exists, and many people do keep backup electronic equipment in Faraday cages that (should) shield them from EMP effects.

However, it is probably a safe bet all transportation, electronic commerce, and communications systems will be severely damaged if not destroyed. Power distribution would be knocked off line for a while.

Given that most people probably have less than $100 in cash and several days of food at any one time, yes, this would probably result in instant reversion to a barbarian society, and martial law.

The one positive thing is that if the EMP event was a 1-time event then the devices and systems that DID survive would be safe (that is, there is no such thing as "EMP fallout" that could continue to effect systems), and those devises and systems could be used to rebuild the damaged infrastructure.

The short-term would be ugly though.

i have given that some thought, yet i have concluded that no significant effect will be felt. If an entire city would be blacked out indefinitely, one sole power transformer will be the attraction of who knows how many people wanting electricity. Everyone will flood to it and then you will have an uncontrollable situation. The same goes with vehicles and so on, people will aim to protect themselves and to give themselves an advantage, and a car or a source of energy would be handy to a large number of people. I would not over look the idea of having small scale battles fought over such things, with devastating out comes. This is, given that the event is large scale.

As for the war vets shooting criminals idea, I think you’re looking at this situation the wrong way. You won’t have "criminals" taking advantage of the situation, at least not alone. You will have an innumerable amount of civilians attempting to gain what they can. There will be no restoration of order, as there will be no means to do so. There will be no way to mass communicate using electronic means.



[edit on 13-11-2008 by funny_pom]

Well a world wide EMP would have to come from either the Sun or from a huge Quasar pulse, which has been considered by researchers.

No lights, no computers, no internet, basically anything electronic, unless heavily shielded, would be useless.

Except...and is the reason why I still have them....old style vacume tube electronics. They will not be affected by EMP. If you have a generator, of any sort, you can still use vacume tube equipment that would function normally during a EMP event.


Cheers!!!!

Thinking about your question brings up allot more questions than answers when you really start to think about it I would hate to be around if a EMP happens

No Transport
No Shops
No Water
No food

Most people would die in the first month of the EMP from the lack of water and food

Most people don't know how to survive with out going to the shop and buying food

How many people have enough food to last them a month? Not many

People would be on the hunt for food and water and you would see so many people being killed over scraps

Don't forget about the smell of death every where

As one poster said no more mobile phones

Hundreds of millions of people would die.
Senior citizens would die.
People with Pace Makers would die immediately.
People who rely on medication to live would die.
People who have mental disorders would be in trouble because they won't be able to get their meds.
Serious drug addicts would die.
Hospitals would shut down and people would die in them.
Type 1 diabetics would die.
People in large cities would die in great numbers because of disease.
Thousands of airplanes would fall out of the sky with an average of 200 people on each plane.
Fires would run rampant and there would be know way to put them out.
Our drinking water would become contaminated for millions of people rotting everywhere.
People would start eating their pets.

Third world countries would actually be in better shape that industrialized countries like the USA and England.

In a worldwide event there would be no help from other countries. If it was just the USA and Canada, then Europe, Asia, and South America would help us rebuild our infrastructure. US warships and military would return from overseas and institute Marshal Law.

If it was just the US and Canada it would cost Trillions of dollars to restore our infrastructure. USA would no longer be a world power.

At this point in history we'd be in big trouble with a World Wide EMP.
A nuclear explosion in NYC would be better than an EMP over Kansas.

JedK

reply to post by RFBurns
"...sun, and huge quasars..." Yeah, like that huge quasar named Katrina! What would the world look like? A lot like NewOr. after Katrina. I'll be in my house, watching you run up and down the street, seeking food. If you stop near my house, or any of my well-informed and well-armed neighbors, your hunger-pangs will be alleviated by a 7.62 morsel or two. What I have to share, I will GIVE. But it will not be TAKEN. SHIBBOLETH.

Most people would survive I beleive, but a lot would depend on the time of year and the weather conditions. Not all electronics would be affected.

You will still get some 'idiot looters' that will steal TV's and other electronic goods

Man can survive without electricity, its just that a lot have forgotten how to .... it would be a steep learning curve for some people.

If you are an Electrician, then you would have a licence to print money if this scenario happened.

A lot would depend on the type of emp pulse that causes the problem. a high amplitude short frequency pulse will take out a lot of stuff. I work at a power plant, the protective relays that protect transformers and generators can protect them from some emp pulses. If the pulse is too "quick" then you over current the windings on equipment and its dead. As we say you let out the magic smoke. If you do not have a spare transformer or windings for a generator on hand in todays world you are looking at 6 to 12 months for a replacement. If every one needed them right now and you still had power to the plants that made them it would be years. Most power plants can not start up without power from the grid, this is called dark start. So in the event of a major black out you have to get one generator started some where, then you have to isolate the lines from that generator to the next one, no power going to homes or factories, and start up that unit. You do this until you can support the load in an isolated area then you start putting power to the next generator. In other words people like me don't get much sleep and we don't get to go home for days.

In cities your septic will back up in a matter of hours as the lift stations will not have power. Your domestic water will be gone in a max of 48 hours if you are on gravity feed. If the water requires pumping then it is off asap. With no stop lights traffic will come to a stand still if cars still work. If the emp pulse is big enough the condensers and coils on older cars will short out, I am old enough to remember them. New cars will probably be toast. You could see a lot of house fires if the over current is high enough as the wiring in your house could short out. Natural gas requires pumping stations to maintain gas pressure. If the pumps fail or there are motor operated valves in the system natural gas will be off in hours.

OK so now we have returned to the 1840's for at least a couple of months. Can you get water that is safe to drink? Can you provide enough food to keep strong? Can you heat/cool your home? How do you clean up the backed up septic in your house? Are you prepaired to gut, skin and cook small game? Where do you bury dead?

I for one would be very upset that I spent all of that money on a hand crank radio that is now useless.

How long would it take the masses to figure out what happened, and that everyone was blacked out? For the short term, I would guess most would simply accept it as the grid being down and wait it out, traditionally what happens when the power goes. Then people will realize that their cells are down, no news is getting anywhere, and eventually, they will start to worry and panic.

I cant see the military stepping in and declaring martial law, they need juice to move just like the rest of us. Sure, D.C. can declare it, but how do you tell anyone in California that?

I like the idea of looters stealing plasma screens and PS3's, then to get home and think, oh, right.

As a world wide scale, I prefer not to think about what can and will happen. I cant possibly predict that or plan for it. All I can do is the same thing I try to do for every possible event. Prepare now for everything. Should an EMP wipe the world clean from electronics, oh well, it was nice while it lasted, but I can survive without electricity. Yes its nice, but not something we must have to survive. Would miss my radio however.

Originally posted by salchanra
I for one would be very upset that I spent all of that money on a hand crank radio that is now useless.

How long would it take the masses to figure out what happened, and that everyone was blacked out? For the short term, I would guess most would simply accept it as the grid being down and wait it out, traditionally what happens when the power goes. Then people will realize that their cells are down, no news is getting anywhere, and eventually, they will start to worry and panic.

I cant see the military stepping in and declaring martial law, they need juice to move just like the rest of us. Sure, D.C. can declare it, but how do you tell anyone in California that?

I like the idea of looters stealing plasma screens and PS3's, then to get home and think, oh, right.

As a world wide scale, I prefer not to think about what can and will happen. I cant possibly predict that or plan for it. All I can do is the same thing I try to do for every possible event. Prepare now for everything. Should an EMP wipe the world clean from electronics, oh well, it was nice while it lasted, but I can survive without electricity. Yes its nice, but not something we must have to survive. Would miss my radio however.

Then my dear chum buy yourself a spare wind up or crank operated radio, diassemble it as much as possible and put it in a lead lined box or a faraday cage, then it will work after the EMP burst.

Originally posted by funny_pom
What I am talking about here is most likely a solar emission that, upon impact with the Earth’s atmosphere causes a reaction resulting in the short-circuiting of all electronic components, the world over.

Just to be picky that solar emission would not be a world wide event per se... the EM radiation from the sun would travel at an incredible speed, so if the Earth was unlucky enough to be in the line of fire - only one side of the globe could be hit, by the time the planet has spun on it's axis the EM radiation would be well on it's way.

That's not to say all of Europe could not be taken out in one go - or all of Russia - or Africa or the USA, but it wont be a global event... Man made devices could do it on a global scale I suppose, if you could overlap all the coverage from EMP weapons and get em to go off together, dunno about that one.